Speed-regulator.



m. 706,32l. Patented Aug. 5, I902.

J. E. JOHNSON.

SPEED REGULATOR.

Application filed. Dec. 16, 1901.) v (No Model.) a Sheets8heet '1.

THE NORRIS PETERS CO, PNOTQ-LITHQ, WASHINGTON, 0. Cf

J. E. JOHNSUN. SPEED REGULATOR (Appliqation filed Dec. 16, 1901.) (NoModel.) 3 Sheats-$heet 2.

N0. 706,32l. Patented Aug. 5, I902.

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No. 706,32l. Patented Aug. 5, I902.

.1. E. aonusou. SPEED REGULATOR.

(Application filed Dec. 16, 1901.)

- (No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

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iTno STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH E. JOHNSON," OF MERIDEN, CONNECTICUT.

SPEED-REGULATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 706,321, dated August5, 1902. Application filed December 16,1901. Serial No. 86,079. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH E. J OHNSON, of Meriden, in the county of NewHaven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Speed-Regulators; and I do hereby declare the following,when taken in connection with-the accom panying drawings and thecharacters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of thisspecification, and represent, in--.

Figure 1, a plan view of a speed-regulator containing my improvement;Fig. 2, a broken view thereof in front elevation; Fig. 3, a detail view,partly in elevation and partly in vertical section, on the line a b ofFig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow 0; Fig. 4, a detachedbroken view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of theadjustable tension device for preventing undue vibration in thespeeder-lever under normal conditions; Fig. 5, a detachedbro'kenview,partly in section and partly in elevation, showing the springemployed for restoring the rockarm to its normal position; 'Fig. 6, adetached broken view showing the notch in the lower end of theoperating-rod which is connected with the Speeder-lever, the said notchbeing shown in its relation to the two rollers with which it coacts;Fig. 7, an enlarged plan view, in horizontal section, showing thefrictionclutch of my improvement together with its allied parts.

My invention relates to an improvement in speed-regulators forcontrolling the opening and closing movements of water-wheel gatesoperated by mechanism under the control of a centrifugal governor, theobject of the invention being to provide comparatively simple andreliable means for preventing a toomarked movement of a water-wheel gatein either direction at any one time, whereby toomarked fluctuation inthe speed of the wheel is prevented.

Before beginning the detailed description of my improvement and settingforth the operation thereof I may state that it may be applied to anyspeed-regulator having a centrifugal governor. I do not, therefore,limit myself to embodying my improvement in mechanism of the particularconstruction shown and described. I will not, therefore, describe thatmechanism any further than necessary to make my invention clear.

In carrying out my invention as herein shown I locate a worm 2 upon theshaft 3 of a motor 4, employed to eifect the opening and closingmovements of a water-wheel gate, (not shown,) which is connected withthe said motor-shaft 3 through a water-wheel-gate shaft 5. The motore isthe gate-controller ofthe apparatus and will be so called hereinafter.It may be replaced by any other means adapted to perform the samefunction. The said worm meshes into a segmental gear 6,1ocated directlybeneath it and mounted upon the inner end of a horizontal rock-shaft 7,the outer end of which is provided with a segmental miter-gear 8,meshing into a corresponding segmental miter-gear 9, mounted upon theadjacent end of a horizontal rockshaft 10. The said shaft 7 is supportedin twoupright supports 11, only the outer one of which is shown, whilethe said rock-shaft 10 is supported at one end in an upright 12 andatits opposite end in an upright 13. It is obvious that the shaft 10will be rocked in one direction or the other according to the directionin which the motor-shaft or gate-controller shaftS, and hence the worm2, are being rotated'at the time. The inner end of the said shaft 10 is,as shown, reduced in diameter to form a long stem 14, though this is notessential, and provided with a friction-clutch comprising two cups 15and 16, having coacting beveled flanges, the cup 15 being the larger ofthe two, and being rigidly secured by a key 17 or in any other suitablemanner to the stem 14. and abutting against the shoulder 18, formedbetween the same and the body of the rock-shaft 10. The inner face ofthe cup 15 is formed with a central socket 19 for the reception of oneend of a spiral spring 20, encircling a portion of the stem 14; andhaving its opposite end inserted into acorresponding socket 21, formedin the centerof the inner face of the smaller cup 16, which isloose uponthe stem 14 and provided with a large hub 22, containing acircumferential groove 23, receiving antifriction-rollers 24, virtuallycorresponding to it in width and mounted upon pins 25, projecting fromthe inner faces of the lower ends of the two arms 26 of a fork formed atthe inner end of a horizontally-arranged operating-lever 27, swingingupon a pivot 28, located in a bracket-like frame-piece 29, secured tothe main frame of the machine by screws 30. The outer end of the forkedlever 27 is provided with two lugs 31, carrying a pin 32, upon which anantifriction-roller 33 is mounted. This roller coacts with a camnotch34, formed in the lower end of a vertically-arranged operating-bar 35,the upper end of which is pivoted to the Speeder-lever 36, which isconnected with a fork 37, connected with the upper end of the valve-rod38 by means of a slotted block 39, attached to the upper end of the saidrod. The beveled walls of the notch 34 act' as cams upon the roller 33for swinging the operating-lever 27. The bar 35, therefore, has thefunction of a cam and might with propriety be called a cam. The saidvalve-rod 33 is connected at its lower end with a vertically-movablevalve 40, located within a casing 41, to which oil is supplied throughthe pipe 42 from a pressure-tank 43.

The centrifugal regulator 44 is of ordinary construction and providedwitha miter-pinion 45, meshing into a corresponding pinion 46, mountedupon a shaft 47, carrying a pulley 48, driven in any convenient way froma shaft, (not shown,) but itself driven by the water-wheel and partakingof the fluctuations of the speed thereof. The centrifugal regulator,like other regulators of its class, is provided with a spindle 49, whichwhen the balls are thrown outward by the raising of the speed beyond thenormal point is pushed downward, so as to press the valve-rod 38downward and hence move the valve downward sufiiciently to open the port50, which permits the oil supplied through the pipe 42 to flow throughthe pipe 51 into the motor or gate-controller 4, from which the oil isexhausted through the pipe 52 back into the upper end of thevalve-casing 41 and into the inside of the valve 40, from which it isdelivered to the pipe 53 and returned to the tank 54, from which it ispumped through the pipe 55 and into the tank 43 by means of the pump 56.On the other hand, when the speed of the centrifugal regulator fallsbelow the normal speed the spring 57 lifts the valverod 38, and hencethe valve 40, and causes the oil topass in the opposite directionthrough the system, whereby the motor or gate-controller is reverselyoperated.

I do not, as I may state here, limit myself to any particular form ofcentrifugal'regulator or valve or valve connections or gatecontroller,the forms shown and described being merely illustrative of what I mayemploy.

It will be understood that when the action of the centrifugal regulatorpresses the valverodqdownward the speeder-lever 36 will be lifted aboveits normal position, while when the centrifugal regulator falls belowits normal speed the spring 57 will immediately act to cause thedepression of the speeder-lever 36 below its normal position. These movements of the Speeder-lever up and down will be participated in by theoperating or cam bar 35, already described, causing it to virtually actas a cam upon the antifriction-roller 33, and so move the forked lever27,which whether the bar 35 is moved in one direction or the other willswing the lever 27 so as to overcome the tension of the spring 20 andforce the smaller friction-clutch on p 16 into engagement with thelarger friction-clutch cup 15, whereby the two cups will be frictionallycoupled together. At this time the larger cup 15 is being rocked in onedirection or the other with the rock-shaft 10, which has been started inrocking movement by the action of the motor or gate-controller, which isnormally at rest, but which has been itself started up by the operationof the valve 40 in one direction or the other, owing to the change ofspeed above or below the normal speed, due to changes in the load or toother causes. The rocking movement of the cup 15 will now becommunicated through the cup 16 to a rockarm 58, which is attached byscrews 59 to the outer face of the hub 22 of the cup 16. The outer endof this rock-arm 59 carries a pin 60, by which the said armis pivotallyconnected with the lower end of a speeder-lever-restoringjrod 61,provided at its upper end with two adjustable fingers 62 and 63,respectively arranged above and below the speeder-lever 36. When thespeeder-lever 36 has been depressed belowits normal position by thespring 57, it is brought into position to be operated upon by the finger62, which lifts it back into its normal or middle position. On the otherhand,when the Speeder-lever 36 is lifted above its normal or middleposition by the action of the centrifugal regulator it is brought intoposition to be pulled down into its normal or middle position by thefinger 63. The restoration of the speeder-lever 36 to its normalposition by means of the fingers 62 and 63 tends to restore the valve 40toits normal position, in which it cuts off the oil from the motor orgate-controller and tends to arrest its momentum, and hence the movementof the water-wheel gate. When the speeder-lever 36 returns to its normalposition, the operating or cam bar 35 is moved so as to bring its notch34 into registration with the roller 33, which enters it again,whereupon the spring 20 asserts itself to disconnect the cups l5 and 16,so as to break the connection between the motor or gate-controller andthe Speeder-lever. When the cup 16 is uncoupled from the cup 15, aspring 64, connected with the hub 22, immediately acts to restore therock-arm 58 to its normal position, in which its fingers 62' and 63 arecorrespondingly distant from the Speeder-lever 36.

The operating or cam bar 35 is held up against the antifriction-roller33 by means of aroller 65, mounted in a head 66, secured to theframe-piece 29 by a screw 67 and adjustable by means of theadjusting-screw 68, fur- ICC nished with a check-nut 69. By means of theadj usting-screw 68 the pressure of the roller upon the operating or cambar 35 may be adjusted as desired and in accordance with the conditionssurrounding the individual use of the apparatus, for, as will be readilyunderstood, in some situations it will be desirable to have lessresistance to the movement of the bar 35, and hence to the speeder-lever36, than in others.

It will be understood, of course, that sufficient time elapses betweenthe elevation or depression of the Speeder-lever above or below itsnormal position and its restoration thereto to permit the increased ordecreased volume of water passing by the gate, as the case may be, tocorrect the initial departure from the normal running of the system,that departure being manifested in the action of the centrifugalgovernor. It may be noted also that the friction developed by thefriction-clutch counter-balances in a sense the power represented by thesprings and weights entering into the action of the governor, the amountof friction developed by the clutch being dependent upon the extent towhich the walls of the cam-notch 34 are brought into play, and that inturn being dependent upon the vertical movement of the bar 35, and thatbeing dependent upon the extent to which the Speeder-lever is raised orlowered, and that being dependent upon the action of the centrifugalgovernor which reflects the slow or fast running of the system. When thevariation from the normal speed is slight, the power of thefrictionclutch will be correspondingly slight, and vice versa.

In order to prevent undue vibration of the Speeder-lever 36 in theordinary and normal operation of the speed-regulator, I employ a tensiondevice which, as shown, is mounted upon a bracket 69, secured to theframe of the machine, and provided, as shown, with an arm 70, whichforms a bearing for the upper end of the operating-rod 61. This tensiondevice is furnished with two yielding pins 71 71, which bear upon theupper and lower faces of the Speeder-lever 36 and in a sense absorb thevibrations thereof and prevent the same from fiapping, so to speak, andcommunicating its flapping movement to the valve 40 and starting themotor or gate controller. These pins 71 are held up against thespeederlever 36 by means of spiral springs 72, located withinsleeve-like casings 73 and controlled in tension by screws 7 l,furnished with check-nuts 75, the outer ends of the casings 7 3 beingclosed by cupped nuts 7 6, receiving the outer ends of the springs 72and also receiving washers 77, which are interposed between the outerends of the springs and the inner ends of the adjusting-screws 74. Theinner ends of the pins 71 are provided with heads against which theinner ends of the springs 72 impinge. This tension device, as beforedescribed, takes care of the minor and what might be called normalfluctuations of the device and prevents those fluctuations from rackingthe other parts of the apparatus and bringing them into playunseasonably, while the system of connections between the motor orgate-controller and the Speeder-lever, including the friction-clutch,take care of the larger fluctuations of the device due to changes in theload or to other corresponding causes.

It is apparent in carrying out my invention and in embodying it indifferent speed-regulators it may undergo more or less changes from theform herein shown and described, and I would therefore have itunderstood that I do not limit myself thereto, but hold myself atliberty to make such changes therefrom as fairly fall within the spiritand scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a speed-regulator for water-wheels,the combination with a water-wheel-gate controller, of a governor,operating connections between the governor and controller, andconnections between the controller and the governor, including afriction-clutch.

2. In a speed-regulator for water-wheels, the combination with awater-wheel-gate controller, of a governor, operating connectionsbetween the said governor and controller, connections between thecontroller and the governor including a friction-clutch, and anoperating-bar connected with and operated by the governor to cause thefriction-clutch to come into action.

3. In a speed-regulator for water-wheels, the combination with awater-Wheel-gate con troller, of a governor, operating connectionsbetween the governor and controller, connections between the controllerand the governor including a friction-clutch, an operating-bar connectedwith and operated by the governor to cause the friction-clutch to comeinto action, and an operating-lever operated by the said bar to bringthe friction-clutch into play.

at. In a speed-regulator for water-wheels, the combination with awater-wheel-gate controller, of a governor, operating connectionsbetween the governor and controller, connections between the controllerand the governor including a friction-clutch, an operating-bar connectedwith and operated by the governor to cause the friction-clutch to comeinto action, an operating-lever operated by the said bar to bring thefriction-clutch into play, and means operated through thefriction-clutch for restoring the Speeder-lever to its normal position.

5. In a speed-regulator for water-wheels, the combination with awater-wheebgate controller, of a governor, a Speeder-lever operated bythe governor, and connections between the said controller and theSpeeder-lever including a friction-clutch, an operating lever, anoperating-bar between the said op crating-lever and the speeder-lever, arock- &

arm, and a rod operated by the said arm and operating to restore theSpeeder-lever to its normal position.

6. In a speed-regulator, the combination with a gate-controller, of acentrifugal governor, connections between the governor and controller, aspeeder-lever operated by the governor, and connections between thecontroller and Speeder-lever, including means for adjusting theresistance of those connections to operation by the speeder-lever.

'7. In a speed-regulator, the combination with a gate-controller, of acentrifugal gov ernor, connections between the governor andgate-controller, a speed-lever operated by the said governor, andconnections between the said controller and Speeder-lever, including aclutch, an operating-lever, an operatingbar connected with thespeeder-lever and formed with a cam operating upon the operating-lever,and means brought into play by the friction-clutch for restoring thespeederlever to its normal position and arresting the gate-controller. I

8. In a speed-regulator, the combination with a gate-controller, of acentrifugal governor, connections between the governor and controller, aspeeder-lever, connections between the gate-controller and theSpeeder-1ever, whereby the gate-controller is arrested, and means forabsorbing or nullifying the minor fluctuations of the Speeder-lever orgate-controller.

9. In a speed-regulator, the combination with a gate-controller, of acentrifugal governor, connections between the governor and controller, aSpeeder-lever, connections between the gate-controller and thespeeder-lever, whereby the gate-controller is arrested, and a tensiondevice for nullifying the minor fluctuations of the Speeder-lever,including two pins engaged with the said lever, springs coacting withthe said pins, and means for varying the tension of those springs.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH E. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

FREDERIC C. EARLE, O. L. WEED.

